Bar chain bans MPs from its premises until 'irrational' 10pm curfew is lifted

A bar chain is campaigning against the new 10pm curfew by banning MPs from its venues until the restrictions are lifted.

The new rule, which came into force in England on Thursday, means all hospitality venues must shut at 10pm, rather than just call last orders, in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Mojo, which has bars in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham and Harrogate, has said it is barring ministers from entering its venues until the Government offers more financial support or the 10pm curfew is removed.

The company shared a picture of MPs on its Instagram page with the word "banned" across it.

"You won't serve us, so we won't serve you," wrote Mojo in the caption.

"Today we call on our friends, colleagues, brothers and sisters in bars, pubs and restaurants across the country to join us in putting all the members of parliament on notice.

"Until they see sense and either release our industry to trade or provide us with viable financial support, we will not serve them."

Martin Greenhow, managing director of Mojo, said the curfew was like "Armageddon" for the company.

He told the Evening Standard: "We're losing 60 per cent of our trading time on Fridays and Saturdays and we've already lost 60 per cent of our actual capacity because of stringent social distancing and hygiene measures, so we were already on our knees.

"Mojo as a company was managing to trade at 80 per cent pre-Covid, but if you then add the 60 per cent reduction from the curfew, then that leaves us with 16 per cent of our original business trading times which is catastrophic for us.

"It's just not sustainable for any business in our industry."

He added that people and businesses have been "incredibly supportive" since Mojo announced the ban for ministers.

"There's a very serious point we are trying to make and we've made it with some humour as well," said Mr Greenhow.

It comes as several businesses have come together to launch the #Cancelthecurfew campaign which aims to raise awareness of how the curfew is impacting the hospitality trade.

Tom Lord, founder of Hospitality Gin and hospitality consultant, told the Manchester Evening News: "The industry that we love is in grave danger of being suffocated by this curfew.

"Some venues were starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel before it was announced as customers returned and we all settled into 'the new normal'. Now we’ve been plunged back into uncertainty.

"We want the British public to know the impact that the curfew is going to have, not just on our businesses, but on our friends and colleagues.

"We have borne the brunt of the measures announced over the past fortnight. We are vilified as breeding grounds for the virus, yet Public Health England’s own figures show this is not true.

"In fact, the latest figures show that we have one of the lowest infection rates outside of the home. Stop blaming hospitality, let us serve."

According to the latest Public Health England figures that were published on Friday, a total of 772 respiratory infections were reported in the week leading up to September 20, and 69 per cent of these were linked to Covid-19 infections.

From September 14 to 20, just 22 of the 532 coronavirus-linked outbreaks were from food outlets in England. Of the 22 outbreaks, just 17 (3.2 per cent) had at least one linked case that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Earlier today the Prime Minister told MPs that the hospitality sector was an "obvious place of transmission" for Covid-19.

When asked whether he stood by the 10pm hospitality curfew, Boris Johnson said: “What I would say about hospitality – no one wants to impose a curfew or a limit of any kind but you’ve got to look at the spread of this disease and that it is spread by human contact.

“I’m afraid the hospitality sector is an obvious place of transmission of coronavirus.

“We have to get it down and that’s what we’re doing, that’s what the country is again doing together.”

He added: “I would draw a distinction between what is happening now and what happened in March – in no way is this the same as the lockdown in March.

“The crucial thing is that, by our collective action, we are allowing hospitality to keep going – hospitality is not being shut down.

“Yes, alas, we have to face some restrictions which I certainly don’t relish but it is because of working together to keep the virus down that we are able to keep things moving.”

Read more

Pubs, restaurants 'saw 3% of Covid outbreaks' in week curfew came in

PM sorry for Covid rule confusion as students given festive hope-LIVE